A garden that finally looks like a garden!

Success!!! After a very long but productive weekend the garden has taken shape and vegetables have been planted! I could not be happier about how it has turned out. I will walk you through our recent progress with photos...

The 3-4x4 raised beds & perimeter frame are in place

Laying down the weed blocking fabric & securing it with fabric pegs

Mel's Mix: 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 compost (left to right)

Mel's mix - mixed; wood chips cover the ground

A raised bed - filled with Mel's Mix

A complete box - with lath boards to divide the bed into square feet (for easy plant/seed calculations)

Completed Box #1 with trellis (made from conduit pipes and nylon trellis netting)

Completed Box #2

Completed Box #3 with trellis

The big picture

Lupin (left) & Dahlia (right) for the flower beds along the perimeter

So, what have I planted so far?

Box 1

• Green Bean - Blue Lake Bush Bean (7)
• Cucumber - Diva (2)
• Cucumber - Burpless Supreme (2)
• Lettuce - Head (3)
• Marigold (6)

Box 2

• Tomato - Sweet 100s (2)
• Tomato - Jet Star (1)
• Tomato - Early Girl (1)
• Sweet Basil (2)
• Marigold (6)

Box 3

• Squash - ? (4)
• Melon - Organic Hale's Best (1)
  
• Pumpkin - Howden (1)
  
• Pepper - Red Beauty (1)
• Pepper - Mandarin Hybrid (1)
• Marigold (6)

Containers

• Mint - Spearmint (1)
• Lemon Balm (1)

Still to plant (from seed):

• Green Bean - Roma II
• Cabbage - Earliana
• Cabbage - Red Acre
• Spinach - Salad Fresh Hybrid
  
• Lettuce - Salad Bowl
• Lettuce - Parris Island (Romaine)
  
• Pea - Sugar Snap
• Radish - Crimson Giant
• Carrot - Short 'n Sweet

The Worst Thing About Gardening

The rain stopped long enough for me to enter my garden for the first time tonight!! A busy week kept me away from my first and worst task...weeding! I was able to take inventory of what had been left by the previous gardener. There wasn't much aside from some random pieces of wood, some trash, an old rake and a broken hose. I also tried to get a more accurate measurement so I could finalize my garden plan. However, there were still too many weeds in the way - but my current estimate is 31' x 12' - a very good size! If forgot to bring a compass so I could figure out the directionals, which I need to plan my layout. Taller crops should be on the northern side of a garden so they don't shade the rest of the crops. Fortunately, the map on www.fenwayvictorygardens.com fortunately had the compass rose.

I weeded for about an hour and a half - until it got dark - getting through about two thirds of the garden. Luckily most of the weeds came up easily but they seemed to never end! The gardens were pretty quiet but I had a single chickadee kept me company.

Post weeding...with still more to do!

All the weeds I pulled from my garden - three wheelbarrows full!

Next on my to-do list:

1. Finish weeding (of course)
2. Complete garden plan
   
3. Cover entire garden with a weed blocking fabric
4. Build and assemble raised beds
5. Create "Mel's Mix" (mix of compost, peat moss & vermiculite)
6. Buy plants & seeds
7. PLANT
8. Fence repairs